


Absent

by fullmetalscully



Series: Camp Nano 2019 [9]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Royai - Freeform, hurt riza, injured riza, worried roy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-07 01:06:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18862630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fullmetalscully/pseuds/fullmetalscully
Summary: Hawkeye and Fuery are a no show during a fire fight where they're supposed to be providing covering fire. Now, trapped, the rest of the team must race to find them. Hopefully they're not too late.





	Absent

**Author's Note:**

> "Hello!! I've been stalking your blog for the past few days and I absolutely adore it omg <3 You write so beautifully!! I was wondering if you could write something with hurt Riza and worried Roy?? I know it's not what you normally write but they're my babies and I love reading them in that specific kind of pain ldfahsqishdfl (If you have the time and feel like it of course!) Hugs!! <3" - Anon
> 
> i loved this one because who doesn't love writing/reading hurt riza with a worried roy by her side?

“Where’s Hawkeye and Fuery?” Roy shouted over the sound of gunfire. A bullet clipped the top of the wall he was hiding behind, rebounding up into the air, the sound making him cringe and duck down further. His thighs burned thanks to his current position, cramping up as he tried to shift slightly to get out from behind his cover.

But it was to no avail.

“Havoc!” he yelled, calling out to his comrade across from him on the other side of the alley.

“I don’t know, boss,” he cried a hint of desperation in his tone. He looked helplessly back at his commanding officer, fear in his eyes that the worst had happened to the two of them.

“The Lieutenant has been dealt with,” a smooth voice replied as the gunfire stopped. Roy’s skin prickled, fear burning into every fibre of his being.

 _Lust_.

No, Hawkeye wouldn’t have let that happen. She was a capable soldier, the best out of their unit. _All_ the men on his team were the best of the best, but Riza Hawkeye was in a league above everyone.

She would come around that corner behind them, he was sure of it.

Something else glanced off the wall he was behind, very loudly gouging out the stone on top. Roy’s head snapped up, seeing Lust’s fingers stretch over him. Glancing to his left, Roy watched as Havoc’s face paled.

Then the gunfire began again, and the homunculus was gone.

Roy waited, popping off shots from his own weapon when he could. The purposefully planted gunpowder by the homunculi limited what he could do with his flame alchemy. Roy’s aim was pinpoint and expertly honed over time, however he had no idea where it was located, if there was any loose on the ground, or if there were any particles in the air.

A bullet bit into his bicep, just grazing the skin enough so it broke. He cursed, throwing himself back down into cover, his ass hitting the ground painfully as he landed, finally feeling the struggle of their fight begin to overwhelm them.

Hawkeye should have been providing covering fire at this point from behind them, along with Fuery, but they were nowhere to be seen.

They never arrived.

Roy grit his teeth in agitation, a growl escaping between his lips.

Lust couldn’t be right. That _bitch_ couldn’t have taken Riza out. Roy wouldn’t allow it.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t how the world worked.

* * *

_Get up._

The command in her head was barked. Riza stirred with a grown, the rough concrete pressing into her cheek painfully.

 _Get up_.

A hand found its way onto the ground painfully slowly, causing agony to shoot into her right side. Riza hissed in pain, the hand faltering as it tried to hold her weight. She crashed back down, eliciting another groan.

Her second attempt was more successful. Wincing, she managed to pull herself into a half sitting position. An eye cracked open and the world tipped. Riza felt her stomach lurch.

“F… Fue…” Squeezing her eyes closed against the pain in her side and her head, Riza tried to utter the name of her fallen comrade. She judged he was still breathing, his chest rising and falling faintly.

“Fuery,” she croaked. No response.

Riza shuffled over to the youngest member of their team. Her heart tore in her chest. _No, no, no._ He couldn’t die. Riza wouldn’t allow it. Not Fuery, anyone but Fuery. He was too good, the best out of all of them.

_Get. Up._

Her body scraped roughly along the ground as she fought to the boy’s side. He wasn’t a boy, but that was what it felt like to Riza. He was so young… Too young to be fighting in this war of theirs.

Yet he did. They all did. For the future.

The dark patch of blood in his left side dripped onto the ground, creating a pool. Riza shoved her hand atop of it, stemming the flow as best she could.

They had been side by side when Lust arrived, skewering them both with the same hand. Riza should have seen it coming, but when a homunculus with speed like hers crept up on them, they hadn’t stood a chance.

Riza was alive, for now. So, she would do her best to try and save her comrade.

Her friend.

“Hang in there Fuery,” Riza whispered, wincing again at the pain in her side. Her other hand was pressed against her own wound, but the blood trickled between her fingers with no end.

Whimpering against the pain, Riza bowed her head and prayed for the first time in her life. Not for herself, but for Fuery.

* * *

“Boss! Through here!”

Roy rolled across the open area, coming to a stop beside Havoc. Breda was earnestly beckoning him as Havoc provided covering fire around the corner.

Breda guided him to the alleyway where Fuery and Hawkeye had been located at the start of the shootout. When Roy saw what awaited them in that godforsaken alleyway, he stopped dead.

He now realised why there was blood on Breda’s uniform.

He hadn’t been hurt.

But they had.

Fuery was unconscious – dead? – on the ground, blood pouring from his left side. Hawkeye lay on her side next to him, a hand desperately trying to press against his wound. Her own wound – a matching one on her right side – poured freely as well, creating a pool on the ground below.

 _No_ …

Roy lunged for them both, taking Riza’s wrist gently in his. He removed it from Fuery’s side, moving to grip her blood-soaked hand tightly. He weaved his fingers through hers, willing her to meet his gaze.

“It’s okay, we’ve got you,” he told her. He placed his free hand against Fuery’s side, barking at Breda to get back up here _now_. Riza gripped his hand tightly and Roy sighed in relief, glad to feel the strength behind her grip.

“Back up is on the way. I’ll go help Havoc with the suppressive fire, sir,” Breda announced, leaving before Roy could argue otherwise. Not that he would have anyway. Havoc had been backed into the alleyway, firing back at the men who had initiated the gun fight, thanks to a prompt from Lust. Roy _knew_ he had heard her voice somewhere before.

 _Goddamnit_ , he growled to himself.

“Lieutenant keep as much pressure on your wound as possible,” Roy ordered, his throat tightening. They shouldn’t be in the situation. How had this even _happened_?

“How… is Fuery?” she rasped. Roy’s head snapped towards her. Even though her grip was strong on his hand, her voice wasn’t. He readjusted the grip on her hand, brushing his fingers over the pulse point on her wrist. It was difficult to feel, but he found it eventually. It was thready.

“He’s going to be okay. So are you, I just need you to hold on a little longer,” he begged. Hunched over both their bleeding forms, Roy had never felt so useless before. What good was he as a commanding officer if he couldn’t protect his own?

“Lieutenant?” he asked, real fear creeping into his tone. “Lieutenant!” Her eyes fluttered closed, hand going limp in his.

* * *

Riza heard voices talking as she moved.

But that couldn’t be right. She was lying on her back, but the ground beneath her was moving. Quickly. How was that possible? Cracking an eye open she saw bright, fluorescent lights.

“… stabbed. So was Sergeant Fuery.”

 _Roy_ …

She felt better knowing that he was here, that she wasn’t alone.

How was Fuery? Was he okay? Did he…?

“Sergeant Fuery is in surgery at the moment,” someone from Riza’s left stated. “He’s lost a lost of blood. So has Lieutenant Hawkeye. We are…”

Riza drifted off once more, unable to focus on anything. However, there was a sudden pressure on her hand, giving her fingers a quick squeeze. She returned the gesture as best she could.

“I’m here,” Roy told her, his voice distant as the darkness crept in again. “I’m not going anywhere.”

* * *

Riza lost a lot of blood.

Lust had almost nicked her lungs, but her freakish blades had narrowly avoided the one on the right. The doctor told the rest of the team the distance between the stab wound and Riza and Fuery’s lungs and it almost made Roy vomit on the spot.

His poor subordinates.

They didn’t deserve this.

There was more medical jargon that Roy was just too tired and too worried out of his mind to comprehend. All Roy could understand though was that she hadn’t woken up yet and the constant beeping to his right from the heart monitor was now attuned to his very being. He had been in this room, by her side, for so long that he could detect any minor change in her heartbeat. He had learned the hard way to read it after she flatlined shortly after being moved here.

That had been the scariest moment of Roy’s life.

The reality of living life without Riza Hawkeye was rudely shoved in his face and he had been unprepared. The panic and grief overwhelmed him so much, he cried silently when he returned to her bedside an hour afterwards, the machine beeping steadily once again.

So yes, he had memorised that rhythm as if his life depended on it.

Head in his hands, he counted the beeps as his elbows rested on Riza’s bedside. Fuery was on the next bed over, by the window. He remained vigilant over them both, the silent protector, until the rest of the team arrived in an hour or so.

“Roy?” Riza croaked quietly.

His head snapped up, breathing halted as he dared to believe this was finally happening.

Two whole days he had been waiting for this moment.

Snapping one of her hands up, clasping both his hands around hers tightly, Roy kissed the tips of her cool fingers.

“You’re awake,” he replied in relief.

“What… What happened?”

“Lust stabbed you, do you remember that?”

Riza nodded, wincing as that movement aggravated something and caused her pain. Her eyes widened momentarily.

“Where is Fuery? Is he okay?” Her voice broke in her haste and worry.

Roy gave her hand a squeeze. “He’s okay. He’s in the bed right next to you. Fuery lost more blood than you did, apparently, so it may be longer until he wakes.”

“What happened with Lust –?”

“Let’s talk about this later, Riza.” Roy noted how her eyebrow arched at the use of her first name, but Roy didn’t care. “Please? I just got you back and the last thing I want to do is talk about work.”

“Okay,” she agreed with a quiet sigh.

“Thank you,” he breathed, bringing her fingers to his lips once more to kiss them. “How are you feeling?”

“Sore.”

“I thought… I thought you were gone when I rounded that corner,” Roy admitted, finally able to face the worry and anxiety that had made its home in his chest for the past two days. Now that Riza was awake and talking, he felt he could finally face it without breaking down. “But you fought it, to save Fuery.”

Riza nodded. “I couldn’t let him go out like that,” she whispered, eyes finding his, willing him to understand. “He doesn’t deserve that.”

“No, he doesn’t. Thanks to you, he won’t.”

Riza smiled, closing her eyes as they drooped.

“And neither do you,” Roy added, quieter. He smirked when that eyebrow arched again. “Rest, Riza. We can talk more later.” He lifted a hand to her head, brushing her fringe from her face, his fingers ghosting over her cheek as they moved back to her hand. Riza made a soft sound as Roy touched her, and he wasn’t too proud to admit he enjoyed hearing it.

He just wished it hadn’t been when she was in a hospital bed after fighting for her life.

“Will you stay?” she asked, eyes still closed.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he vowed, unable to resist pressing his lips to her forehead. “I promise. Get some rest.”

“Thank you, Roy.”


End file.
